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RICHMOND (AP) — A federal appeals court in Virginia has dismissed two lawsuits that claimed President Obama’s health care overhaul was unconstitutional.

The unanimous decision was issued Thursday by a three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. It is the second appellate court ruling affirming the government’s right to require individuals to buy health insurance or pay a penalty. A federal appeals court in Cincinnati also upheld the law, but an appeals court in Atlanta struck down the insurance mandate.

Two of the judges on the Virginia panel were appointed by Mr. Obama, the other by President Bill Clinton. The jurists rejected claims by Kenneth T. Cuccinelli II, Virginia’s Republican attorney general, and Liberty University that the insurance mandate is unconstitutional.